


Searchers after Horror

by snowynight



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Campfire stories, Campfires, Gen, Halloween, Scary Stories, Story-Telling, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 16:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12302949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: Jim, Bones and Spock share campfire horror stories with each other to pass the time when they are stranded on a planet.





	Searchers after Horror

“Tell me why I am stupid enough to beam down with you guys again. I should have seen the trouble long in coming,” Bones groaned when rubbing his hands near the fire. “Just a stroll in sunlight and meadows, he said. You would be back before you noticed it, he said, and now we’re all stuck at a cold and wet tent overnight, again.”

Jim laughed and patted his shoulders. “Where's your adventuring spirit again, Bones? Scotty will fix the transporter problem tomorrow, and don’t you agree that at least it‘s perfect for us to spend a Halloween night? The night is even dark and stormy.”

“Don’t remind me,” Bones said. “Remember the last Halloween with the dungeon and mind controlling puppet aliens? I don’t know you, but I don’t really miss the dark dungeon and being mind controlled. We don’t even get any treats.”

“I do not get the reference of trick and treat as you both have repeatedly mentioned in that mission. I can only conclude that it is one of your irrelevant human custom,” Spock said in his best I-am-hautier-than-your-human look.

JIm knew that Spock knew more about human customs than what he led on, but he let it pass as usual. Instead he said, “Gentlemen, if you are clearly awake, I suggest telling ghost stories to spend the time. It’s a night ripe for scary stories.”

“Captain, I do not see the purpose of telling stories based on human superstition and legends.”

“Tell us scary stories on Vulcan then. There must be some scary stories passing along among your people.”

Spock raised an eyebrow. “Vulcans do not tell ‘scary’ stories to amuse each other.”

“Then tell us scary Vulcan stories to educate us,” Jim said, his smile widening as he heard the air quote in Spock’s words. “Anyway, let me go first.”

“You all know that I grew up on a farm in Iowa.” Jim lowered his voice. “When I was eleven, people were really worried because something kept killing off their livestocks. Cattles, horses, pigs… Nothing was spared. People woke up in the morning to found their animals stabbed and punctured to their death.”

“There were many theories: wolf attack, rival farmers… My neighbours formed a patrol to find out the culprit, but they never found anything. People installed fancy electric fences and traps, but they never worked. My parents told me to stay at home at night as they worried about my safety, but as a child I was too headstrong to listen to them.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Bones asked.

“ I’m much better now,” Jim protested, earning looks of doubt from both of his friends. .Jim ignored it and continued his story. “One day I went to my classmate Andy’s home to play electronic games together. Andy lived only with his grandmother but his grandmother was very nice. She made excellent muffins and fed me to fullness when I visited them. I spent way longer than planned and the night was coming, so I decided to run home even though they told me to stay.”

Spock asked, “What has happened?”

“I’m glad I intrigued you, Mr. Spock,” Jim answered with a smile. “As I ran home, I heard something that sounded like howls of elephants on the documentaries I watched. I looked up and saw a dark shape rushing towards my direction. I ran like hell and didn’t watch my way ahead enough, so I fell over a stumbling rock and landed on the ground with my face. I thought I was done for then.”

Spock asked with tense lines around his eyes. “Were you injured in that incident?”

“No, I was lucky as it left me alone at the end. I heard a calf nearby so the thing must have decided that it would make better dinner than me. I stumbled back home with my clothes full of dirt and scratches, and scared my parents badly when I told them about that. They took out their rifles to go after it - have I told you my mother was a mean shot? Later they told me that they shot something huge and dark munching on a calf, and my mother swore that it broke a paw before it escaped.”

Jim paused and took a sip from his water bottle, rubbing his hand. Satisfied that his friends’ attention was on him, he continued his story. “The next day I came to school and saw that Andy looked very worried, so I asked him what was wrong. He told me that his grandmother was hurt. I asked if she saw a doctor, but he told me that she refused to.”

“She should go, Andy said. Her right hand was missing.” He stared straight at his friends when he delivered the last line in a quiet and chill voice.”

Bones broke the silence first. “Are you hinting what I’m thinking about: the old grandma is a big monster”

Jim shrugged. “Who knows? It may be a coincidence, but I didn’t stay at Andy’s house after night after all.”

He let them savour his words for a while to enhance the effect before saying, “It’s your turn now, Bones.”

“I didn’t remember agreeing to story telling,” Bones said, but he started his story anyway. “When I worked in the Starfleet Hospital in San Francisco, I worked at a surgical inpatient ward. Part of the ward was sectioned off to be a room where the patients wait to do surgery on the day. Everyday it was cleaned and locked in the afternoon. It was 5pm when my colleague Dr. Jones asked if I heard a patient’s bell from there.”

Bones slowed down his voice in his continued narration. “I have just finished a surgery and had no patience with his nonsense, as the room would be locked by then. ‘No, I heard nothing,’ I said. ‘Go ahead to check the bell and don’t bother me with that.’”

“I paid no more attention as he left, as I was too busy with checking over my patients. Half an hour later he asked me again whether I heard the bell. I told him that he should have checked the bell to see if anything wrong with that, but he said he already did and saw nothing.”

“He talked about the bell several times later and I finally got fed up with his mystical bell. Nobody else heard it other than him. I downright told him to take a break and return home if you kept hearing a bell that nobody heard.”

“What’s happened next?” Jim asked impatiently.

Bones’s southern drawl strengthened as he said, “The next day my superior asked if any of us heard from Dr. Jones as he was absent without leave. No one knew where he was, and he didn’t answer any call.”

“Then he showed up on a gurney. Car crash.”

“If there was any indication of truth in your story, the doctor’s audial hallucination showed a mental state unfit for driving. As a doctor, he should have paid attention to the warning signs,” Spock commented.

“Thank you for your medical lecture,” Bones said while rolling his eyes. “The next day I talked to a nurse, who said it was so funny because the bell there rang even though nobody was there. The next week she was admitted for gallbladder surgery. It became kind of a legend: if anyone heard the bell in that unoccupied room, in a week they would have to ring the bell for themselves. All right, it’s your turn now, Spock. I can’t wait to hear your very logical ghost story.”

“Doctor, your words demonstrated a worrying lack of comprehension of logic. I suggest you look up the basic teaching materials about Surak’s basic precepts, although I am reluctant to evaluate…”

Bones interrupted,”Just start you story!”

“I see no merit in this pursuit.”

“Think of it as a team bonding activity. It will allow us to show our knowledge of each other and our own psychological weakness,” Jim said. “Just give it a try, please?”

Spock looked doubtful, but finally submitted to Jim’s request. “Very well, I will make an attempt, but please note that I have stated my reservation about this activity.”

“This’s what I can ask,” Jim said with a smile, patting his hand.

Spock looked straight at him with his usual impassive expression. “Mr. Scott have not yet come back to us about the current transporter status. While I have full confidence in Mr. Scott’s ability, there is a 5.32567% of the transporter being unfixable. Depending on the weather condition of the planet atmosphere, a shuttle retrieval may be inadvisable, so we will have to stay longer than expected.”

“Will our supplies be enough?” Jim asked with a frown, his mind switching to his command mode.

“As we expected to return on the same day, even with prudent management of our supplies we will need to start acquiring food from outside sources after two to three days. However, as the ecology of this planet is vastly different from Earth and Vulcan, the possibility that we can obtain enough food and water for our need will be…”

“Are you saying we will starve to our death here?” Bones asked, his face turning paler.

Spock continued in the same even tone. “As the Enterprise is on a time limit to arrive at its next destination, Mr. Scott will be forced to leave the sector to continue with its mission. Our chance of survival will lower significantly as we can no longer rely on the Enterprise.”

Jim’s pulse raced as he flipped open his communicator. “Kirk to Scotty, what’s the status of the transporter?"

"It’s fixed and ready. Just say the words and we’ll beam you all back with no trouble,.”

“Thanks, Scott,” Jim said to end the conversation. “We’ll be spared a slow death, but I will look up our landing parties’ equipment and supplies when we’re back on the ship. Thanks for reminding me, Mr. Spock.”

Spock said calmly,” Very well, captain, but I also want to note that the possibility for our worst case scenario to happen is 0.5432278%.

Jim widened his eyes at Spock’s reply before bursting into laughter and patting Spock’s shoulders. “You’re really a natural at telling scary stories. I was really worried then.”

“I apologize for your false alarm, but as you have mentioned, the target of this activity was to examine our characters and knowledge of each other.”

“Great job,” Jim said.

Bones agreed grudgingly. “This’s impressive.”

“We’ll have to continue our conversation onboard,” Jim said and turned to his communicator. “Kirk to the Enterprise, three to beam up.”

As they disappeared from the cave, a rock was loosened and tumbled along the floor, revealing something white and hard from behind.

**Author's Note:**

> written for land_of_magic: Halloween minibang
> 
> Inspiration for Jim's and Bones' stories:
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2fxj86/doctors_of_reddit_have_you_ever_experienced/cke3xk3/ 
> 
> http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activity/10-holes.html


End file.
